A Syrian military court has sentenced the dissident writer Ali al-Abdullah for 1.5 years in prison on charges of "disturbing Syria's links with a foreign state." The court sentenced Ali al-Abdullah for three years in jail, which was reduced to half.

Abdullah was tried following remarks he made from prison about the Lebanese-Syrian relations and the electoral fraud, which he said that the Iranian government used in 2009, according to a statement by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The 61-year-old intellectual was sentenced for 2.5 years between December 2007 and June 2010 due to his demand for democracy. He was due to be released in June 2010, but was kept in detention after his comments about Lebanon and Iran.

The Syrian organization condemned in its statement "the unjust sentence which reflects the militancy manner the Syrian authorities are treating political activists and opinion makers." It also demanded "the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience in Syrian prisons."